Head-To-Head Survey: Noble (NYSE:NE) & Valaris (NYSE:VAL)

Noble (NYSE:NE) and Valaris (NYSE:VAL) are both mid-cap energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, risk and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Noble and Valaris, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Noble	1	10	1	0	2.00
Valaris	1	10	0	0	1.91

Noble presently has a consensus target price of $41.50, indicating a potential downside of 11.24%. Valaris has a consensus target price of $61.72, indicating a potential downside of 30.31%. Given Noble’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Noble is more favorable than Valaris.

Volatility & Risk

Noble has a beta of 1, suggesting that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Valaris has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Noble and Valaris”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Noble	$3.29 billion	2.27	$216.72 million	$1.35	34.63
Valaris	$2.37 billion	2.59	$982.80 million	$13.99	6.33

Valaris has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Noble. Valaris is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Noble, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Noble and Valaris’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Noble	6.60%	2.34%	1.40%
Valaris	41.49%	12.62%	6.81%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

68.1% of Noble shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.7% of Valaris shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of Noble shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Valaris shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Valaris beats Noble on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Noble

Noble Corp. Plc engages in the provision offshore drilling services for oil and gas industry. It focuses on a balanced fleet of floating and jackup rigs and the deployment of drilling rigs in oil and gas basins around the world. The company was founded by Lloyd Noble and Art Olson in 1921 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

About Valaris

Valaris Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides offshore contract drilling services Gulf of Mexico, South America, North Sea, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through four segments: Floaters, Jackups, ARO, and Other. It owns an offshore drilling rig fleet, which include drillships, dynamically positioned semisubmersible rigs, moored semisubmersible rig, and jackup rigs. It serves international, government-owned, and independent oil and gas. Valaris Limited was founded in 1975 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.